memeorandum: RNC may sanction presidential debates that double as fundraisers (Sean J. Miller/Ballot Box)

1:35 PM ET, April 2, 2011

Top Items:

Deadly Protests Over Koran Burning Reach Kandahar — KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Violent protests over the burning of a Koran in Florida flared for a second straight day, with young men rampaging through the streets of this southern capital, flying Taliban flags and wielding sticks.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Daily Dish, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Mahablog, The Jawa Report, Truthout, The Gateway Pundit, Outside the Beltway, Another Black Conservative, Pirate's Cove, UN Dispatch, FrumForum, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, The Political Carnival, The Lonely Conservative and Washington Monthly

Guardian:

Is the Florida pastor who burnt the Qur'an morally responsible for the deaths of UN staff in protests in Afghanistan? | Poll — Ten UN staff have been killed in a violent protest in Afghanistan against the burning of a copy of the Qur'an by a Christian fundamentalist pastor in Florida last week.

Discussion: Da Techguy's Blog, Fausta's Blog, Harry's Place, Pajamas Media and Jihad Watch

ABCNEWS:
Terry Jones Says Afghan U.N. Violence ‘Proves My Point’

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, protein wisdom, The Last Tradition, Hot Air and Mediaite

New York Times:
Pastor Who Burned Koran Demands Retribution

Discussion: Maggie's Notebook and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Ismail Sameem / Reuters:
Ten dead in Afghan Koran burning protests

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Informed Comment and Hot Air

Una Moore / UN Dispatch:
This Attack is Different — Mark asked me to respond …

Tom A. Peter / Christian Science Monitor:
UN staff killed by Afghan mob enraged over Florida Quran burning

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Truthdig

Washington Post:

Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israel and war crimes — We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war of 2008-09 than we did when I chaired the fact-finding mission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council that produced what has come to be known as the Goldstone Report.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Taylor Marsh, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Israpundit, Global Spin, Maggie's Farm, Atlas Shrugs, FrumForum and normblog

Sean J. Miller / Ballot Box:

RNC may sanction presidential debates that double as fundraisers — The Republican National Committee is considering sanctioning a series of monthly presidential candidate debates beginning in August that would be paired with committee fundraisers, a party official confirmed to The Ballot Box.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
RNC proposes its own debates — to raise money

Discussion: The Caucus, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and FrumForum

John Nolte / Big Government:

Devastating New Ad Might Be Game Changer in Wisconsin's Crucial April 5th Election — As is the case with any important election, events are happening fast as we approach the final weekend prior to the crucial Tuesday April 5 vote that will ultimately decide the future of Wisconsin for a generation to come.

Discussion: The Radio Patriot, TBogg, Nice Deb, The Lonely Conservative, The Underground Conservative, We Party Patriots, Hot Air and JSOnline

David Weigel / Weigel:
Wisconsin Unions Attack Prosser for Calling a Judge a “Total Bitch”

Discussion: Althouse, The Raw Story, JSOnline and Ben Smith's Blog

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Dem Party of Wisconsin: Expect at Least Six Recall Elections

Discussion: Daily Kos

Andrea Stone / The Huffington Post:

Firefighters, Cops Warn Republicans Anti-Union Stance Has Consequences … WASHINGTON — Leaders from two unions known to support the Republican Party warned of serious repercussions for GOP candidates in the 2012 elections, saying the onslaught of anti-labor bills in state capitals has shifted their political allegiances.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Crooks and Liars

Daily Mail:

Obama: All federal vehicles MUST be environmentally friendly by 2015 - except my limo — Barack Obama's presidential limousine will be exempt from his drive to make all government vehicles environmentally friendly, the Secret Service has revealed. — The president last week insisted …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers and Scared Monkeys

David Shepardson / Detroit News:
Presidential limousine, security vehicles exempt from fed ‘green’ vehicle policy

Discussion: Don Surber

Charles Levinson / Wall Street Journal:

Ex-Mujahedeen Help Lead Libyan Rebels — DARNA, Libya—Two former Afghan Mujahedeen and a six-year detainee at Guantanamo Bay have stepped to the fore of this city's military campaign, training new recruits for the front and to protect the city from infiltrators loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, 1 The Long War Journal and FrumForum

Kerry Picket / Washington Times:

Barack Obama: Losing $84 billion big success — Barack Obama has some ‘splaining to do about taxpayers’ profitable “investment” in General Motors. It turns out the president is imagining things. — Though Democrats tout the auto bailout as a success, recent reports illustrate the taxpayer cost …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Doug Ross, The Lonely Conservative and Don Surber

New York Times:

Reactor Pit Found Leaking Radioactive Water Into Sea — TOKYO — Highly radioactive water is leaking directly into the sea from a damaged pit near a crippled reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, safety officials said Saturday, the latest setback in the increasingly messy bid to regain control of the reactors.

Discussion: The Hill, FrumForum and Boing Boing

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

King Barack I — Many of us supported this president because he promised to bring back the constitutional balance after the theories of Yoo, Delahunty, et al put the president on a par with emperors and kings in wartime. And yet in this Libya move, what difference is there between Bush and Obama?

Discussion: The Right Sphere, The Other McCain and Instapundit

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

House GOP passes ‘force of law’ spending bill mocked by Dems — The House narrowly passed legislation on Friday that calls for a House-passed FY 2011 spending bill to become law should the Senate fail to approve a spending bill by April 6. It would also prevent members of Congress from being paid during a government shutdown.

Discussion: Hot Air and Washington Monthly

CNN:

Barbour's wife ‘horrified’ at presidential prospects — (CNN)- The wife of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says she is “horrified” that her husband is seriously considering a bid for the presidency. — In an interview with CNN affiliate WLOX in Biloxi, Marsha Barbour admitted the …

Discussion: Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, The Politico and Washington Wire

Jon Terbush / TPMDC:

Poll: Americans Wrongly Estimate $178 Billion In Fed. Budget Goes To Public Broadcasting — In a CNN poll of American adults released Friday, the median guess on what percentage of the federal budget goes to public broadcasting was 5%. With a $3.55 trillion budget last year …

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, The Impolitic, Weigel and Washington Monthly

Fred Lucas / CNSNews:

Investigations Find ‘Unprecedented’ Political Review of FOIA Requests by Homeland Security Department — Washington (CNSNews.com) - A political review of open records requests smacks of “Nixonian” tactics by the Department of Homeland Security, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers